High school math acceleration thread

Parents Forum
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Since math acceleration seems to pop up in many threads from time to time, along with complaints that it is off-topic, how about a dedicated thread on the subject where posters can discuss the subject, describe experiences, comment on the value of various levels of math acceleration, etc.?

Shorthand for math track or level of acceleration:

  • -1 = completes algebra 2 but not precalculus in high school, sometimes due to choosing statistics or no math at all after completing algebra 2
  • +0 = precalculus in 12th grade, the standard level in the US; student is theoretically ready for calculus when starting college
  • +1 = calculus in 12th grade (or precalculus in 11th grade if calculus is not available in the school); student may have advanced placement in college math
  • +2 = calculus in 11th grade (or precalculus in 10th grade if calculus is not available in the school); student may have advanced placement in college math; student is more likely to run out of math in high school
  • etc. for greater levels of acceleration

When acceleration decisions are made (not necessarily mutually exclusive):

  • Middle school (or occasionally earlier) acceleration decision, where the student is placed in algebra 1 earlier than 9th grade. This is the most common decision point for math acceleration. In some school systems that are heavy with high-education-parent families, there may be a majority of students tracked into the +1 or higher track in middle school.
  • Double up acceleration, where the student takes algebra 1 and geometry, or geometry and algebra 2, concurrently. This is not generally possible if the school system uses integrated math instead of algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2, or otherwise does not allow it. This is usually a parent / student decision, rather than one recommended by the school system.
  • Algebra 2 acceleration decision, where stronger-in-math students are offered an algebra 2 / trigonometry / precalculus accelerated course. Students who do well in that course can take calculus the following year; others take a traditional precalculus course. This appears to be a less common offering in school systems, although some larger school systems use it.

Any comments or experiences on the subject?

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They pushed our kids so fast through math the only option they had their Senior year was math at Georgia Tech. They doubled up in Algebra and Geometry in 5th grade. Many kids had to do a lot of work for the SAT because they blazed through Algebra so quickly.

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I want to start by saying…math acceleration is definitely the right thing for some students. However, this has sort of taken on a life of its own.

I’m repeating an old story about my younger kid. She was recommended for accelerated math to start in 8th grade. She was a hard worked, loved math, and typically got A grades because of her very hard work. When the recommendation was made, we politely asked the department chair if he had any compelling reasons why she should be accelerated. He hemmed and hawed…well….she had good grades and teacher recommendations. My husband is an engineer, and for this kid firmly believed a strong foundation was more important than acceleration. So we graciously declined the offer. We were the first parents who had ever declined this opportunity. Our kid took the regular sequence, ending in precalc.

This kid was an engineering major in college…and did just fine.

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A lot’s been said already. The usual things that come up are:
-Are parents pushing for acceleration or it it the kids ability?
-Resources: What are the resources of the school. Are paths available early in Middle school or are there many kids who have taken this path before ( like in CA) or will the parents/kids be fighting the teachers the entire time? Is it worth the fight?
-What are the other options: AOPs, Math teams, CTY/Duke TIP, Russian Math. This often devolves into a fairness discussion about wealth and options for low income students/high schools where tests are needed for entrance, etc.
-What is the benefit of advanced math, assuming the kid flies through it all and the parents aren’t pushing? There is a subgroup on CC who approves and a group that thinks it’s unecessary and can be done in college usually exemplified by their students legit experiences.
-$$: Does a kid need private school, college classes, Summer programs, or tutors to keep them going? How does the parent find these resources. Which resource are best for which child?

I love this subject as I feel we have experienced every aspect of most of the issues people raise having math kids. I don’t regret letting them do their thing and pursue their own level as the math level in school never met their needs until high school. They felt a lot of frustration with many teachers who refused to adapt or allow advancement and they learned from a lot of great people willing to share their time and talent. It’s been a journey. Still not done.

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Who is “they”? A public or private school, or someone else? Did you feel that it was the appropriate track for the students?

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Fwiw, our public school is a good but not elite school (~18th of 100 in the region, per recent rankings) and Algebra in 8th through Calc or alternative senior year is the standard track. AFAIK, that’s true of most schools around here.

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Acceleration was started in 6th grade, based on test scores, teacher recommendation, etc. There were about 6 in my D22’s class of 600 that walked over to the high school with her for Alg2 in 8th. One took summer PreCalc to skip another year.

A few students took a summer course after 7th or 8th to join this accelerated group. So about 10 were in Calc AB in 10th, about another 50 in Calc AB in 11th, and 250 in Calc AB in 12th. 200 or so on the Traditional track opt for AP Stats or other courses that meet the Math requirement in 12th. About 100 follow the Concepts course

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This was in public school. Eventually in HS they went to a private school. I think the entire thing was a money grab. They had this other ridiculous three tier system with regular, honors, and gifted classes. There were clearly kids who probably shouldn’t have been in the gifted classes but they got money for filling the spots. I wasn’t thrilled with the whole system but my children had no issues with it. My daughters tutored lots of kids for the SAT because although they were in advanced math they were horrible at Algebra. Another sad thing is they actually skipped a year of math and then spent the end of the year spending most of the time studying for the tests the County made them take so they didn’t look bad. This is one of the best school districts too but we are in GA so that doesn’t say much. :slight_smile:

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I always strongly encourage advanced students not to advance more than two years ahead of the “traditional” track, which is usually a year ahead of the honors track. For starters, you will likely be running out of opportunities at a high school.

I also believe there are so many other area of exploration for the math inclined, outside of MVC, Linear, DiffEQ which are the typical sequential options. My D has tremendously enjoyed number theory, discrete match, counting/combinatorics/advanced geometry/proofs that a math club/math circle has taught her. I believe it will be much more valuable through college and life than pushing through more calculus.

I always encourage gifted/interested students to explore AoPS and read the Calculus Trap article by Richard Rusczk, founder of AoPS.

As I noted elsewhere, the captain of D’s math team when she first joined never went beyond Calc 1 in high school. He used many resources to study and research other topics, was a 2x IMO Gold Medalist, was recently named a Putnam Fellow, and should be graduating from MIT in a few months.

Math is so much richer than the “traditional” high school track.

I also agree that acceleration should be driven by interest. The student should be pulling, parents/teachers shouldn’t be pushing. When D was being considered for grade acceleration, one of the first qualifying questions in the Iowa Acceleration Scale was simply asking the student about their interest. Though D scored in the top tier of the actual evaluation, this initial screen indicated that she had no interest, and that was the end of that.

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Wow, makes me dizzy just thinking about all the options.

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I.e. it looks like your schools are trying to make the +1 track the standard level track, among options of +0 (“concepts”), +1 (“traditional”), and +2 (“honors”) tracks, with the following approximate numbers:

  • 100 in the +0 track
  • 450 in the +1 track (250 of whom choose calculus in 12th grade)
  • 50 in the +2 track
  • 10 in the +3 track
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Math acceleration was a hot-button topic when ours were in elementary and middle, mainly due to the wide variety of levels across public and privates in the area, and the different “gates” used to get into the highest.

In general, the top publics & privates have a written path to “+2”/Algebra 1 in 7th.
About 1/10th of local public(non-magnets) end up +2, about 1/4th of the (test-in)private schools I know are +2, and the “bottom” math level is +0 at the privates, far less than 1/4 of the kids, which is very hard for them because they feel “dumb” when they are on the normal average path!
One major conflict that caused parents stress was that the local publics use 5th grade standardized state “gifted” cutoff of >93rd%ile in math to get in to the pre-algebra in 6th(leads to +2), whereas our private school and others nearby use a combination of pull-out math groups that start somewhat secretly in 2nd grade then expand to include more kids by 4th, and standardized scores alone will NOT get you in unless they are more like 97th++. We had some friends who pulled their kids for this reason–they had the “gifted” cutoff score for the local public to get on the +2 path, but were not considered ready per the private school year-over-year assessment. Math level in the private school links to levels of honors or AP science you can take in HS, so it is seen as very important to try to get on that +2 path. Weirdly, the publics not only have an easier “gate” to +2, they also have less strict rules on science APs (more grade and rec related), so I understand the parents that move their kids to public for more opportunities in HS.

For whatever reason, as I have shared before, the local publics and privates around here all have AB Calc for one year then BC calc for one year, though the publics do allow summer work and skipping AB occasionally. Our private and the neighboring one do not allow, as the BC curriculum covers second semester college calc and does not review first semester(AB), unlike how it was done in my day (BC covered both semesters of college calc, and followed precalculus). The reasoning is probably the AP scores, though the stated goal is depth of knowledge and preparation for college calc. The two private schools I have data on have almost double the pass rate (95%) on AP calc compared to the publics, so their stricter “gate” into accelerated paths could be a reason, or it could be better teaching. Both of mine have had/are in BC and it does go well beyond the AP curriculum(AB did not–but AB is a mix of +1/algebra in 8th kids as well as +2/Algebra in 7th kids, so the pace is intentionally slower, per the teachers themselves). BC calc in our school is in senior year(except for the rare +3s addressed below), after a full year of AB, and is the “end” of the Algebra1 in 7th/+2 pathway.
Multivariable and Linear algebra are taught as co-recs with BC calc for seniors who are recommended, and there are other math-elective courses that are co-recs with calculus.
However, every couple of years the elementary school identifies 1-3 kids to do Algebra 1 in 6th grade. My D21 had none of these kids, and there were none the year before or after her. I did not even know it existed until the elementary teacher for D23 asked to meet and explained their plan for her.
Every now and again kids from different school systems who transfer into middle or HS are on this “+3” path, but it is not at all standard. D23 had 3 kids including her identified very early(4th gr) and yes parents were asked to keep quiet, but then more were shifted in over the next 18 months due to parental pressure. One has really struggled and one ended up getting caught cheating and left. It was too much drama and they have not invited more than an occasional kid since. Math acceleration causes so much angst in parents, but I am glad for D23 she got to do it–it freed up space in HS and she has been able to take many more Stem electives. Yes, she was bored in precal and AB, but she took a second math course both years that were challenging. BC, due to the expanded curriculum, is fun and interesting (not hard but not at all boring).

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The effects of various tracks on both college admission and study in college:

  • -1: meets minimum admission requirements for most colleges, but will be a disadvantage where admission is more competitive. Student will need an additional precalculus course before taking calculus if needed for the major.
  • +0: meets minimum admission requirements for nearly all colleges (a very small number require calculus in high school that +0 does not meet), but may be a disadvantage at the most competitive colleges or engineering divisions. Nearly all colleges assume that a student can start college at this level (i.e. ready for calculus), but a very small number assume that the student has had calculus in high school.
  • +1: sufficient for admission and math placement at all US colleges. May relieve some schedule pressure in some majors (e.g. engineering majors) compared to +0.
  • +2: varies (beyond +1 effects), depending on what student did after calculus in high school.
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In our school and others–+2, and +1 to some degree, allow access to the most variety of high-level stem classes in high school, plus as others said–allows starting college at a higher level of math, and given the access to more science APs, perhaps starting at a higher level there too.

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Well, the small issue I have with this threads-1 to +2 gauge is not all schools have the same rubric or paths.

In terms of outcome, I don’t think it’s a matter of what the kid took. Some kids don’t have access to very advanced topics and still do well at Caltech. Others have advanced topics under their belt but mainly they have exposure only. When they attend college they aren’t outstanding as others catch up.

We know kids who are outstanding in math and have had less “access” to clubs, programs etc. I’d assume they’ll do great in college. Or, those who’ve had advanced topics, they muddle through but don’t have the same zen for it. I’d guess they’d have a mix of college results.

I’d agree with you on the correlation to college admissions, for the most part. As colleges can only judge what is being presented. But study in college, nope. Taking a course can only get you so far. After a few years, the best math kids will shake out based on skill as well.

It’s common for some countries like China to surpass our math at an earlier age. Does that mean that China has better math scholars? Not at all. It’s just their learning trajectory is steeper at an earlier age.

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However, Caltech is one of the very small number of US colleges that requires calculus in high school for admission (and as a prerequisite for required math for frosh). I.e. it requires being at least on the +1 track, so it does matter more there that at most other colleges.

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Again, you are referring to your own grid and I don’t think that makes sense. I’d guess every successful Caltech applicant has had some exposure to Calc( or some reason for not having exposure). Pinning this to an arbitrary grid makes no sense. BTW, our state and local privates don’t adhere to the grid provided.

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Lest this thread turns into a debate, can we all agree that:

  • Caltech is the exception (and there are relatively few colleges who have the same expectation and given a class size of ~240, they are not targeting 99.9%+ of HS seniors), not the rule.

  • AP Calc is not “very advanced topics.”

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At our suburban public HS in MA, math acceleration is offered following a 6th grade placement test so that students enter HS taking Geometry freshman year followed by Alg 2, pre-Calc and Calc as a senior. For calculus the school offers honors, AP Calc AB or AP Calc BC. Students don’t need to take AB prior to BC – it’s an either/or situation. Accelerated kids who don’t want to take Calc will usually opt for AP Stats senior year (as do the occasional students that have taken AP Calc junior year due to acceleration outside of school). A kid who was not accelerated in middle school can still reach calculus by senior year if they take a summer course or if they double up one year (often Algebra 2 & Geometry sophomore year).

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What does your system do? I wonder if the courses are named differently , but essentially the course content each year roughly aligns similarly to the standard rubrics Ucb has outlined. I am genuinely curious as I have never come across a system that does not align with this rubric.

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